Debaser

This article is about the single by Pixies. For music groups with this name, see Debaser (disambiguation).

"Debaser"
Cover of the Debaser: Studio single.
Single by Pixies
from the album Doolittle
A-side	"Debaser"
B-side	"Bone Machine" "Gigantic" "Isla de Encanta"
Released	September 22, 1997
Format	Compact Disc
Recorded	November 1988 at Downtown Recorders, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	2:52
Label	Elektra
Writer(s)	Black Francis
Producer	Gil Norton
Pixies singles chronology
"Head On" (1992) "Debaser" (1997) "Bam Thwok" (2004)

"Debaser" is a song by the American alternative rock band Pixies, and is the first song on their 1989 album Doolittle. The song was written and sung by frontman Black Francis and was produced by Gil Norton during Doolittle's recording sessions.

The "Head On" single includes a live version of the song recorded in Chicago on August 9, 1989, and a recording from Debaser December 16, 2004, in New York City appears on "Hey" – Live Pixies 2004–2005. "Debaser" was later released as a single in 1997 to promote the Death to the Pixies compilation. The single appeared in three forms: live, studio and demo.

Lyrics and meaning

The lyrics are based on a surrealist film by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí called Un chien andalou. The film notoriously opens with a scene in which a woman's eye is slit by a razor, which is referenced in the song lyric "Slicin' up eyeballs/I want you to know." According to Black Francis:

I wish Buñuel was still alive. He made this film about nothing in particular. The title itself is a nonsense. With my stupid, pseudo-scholar, naive, enthusiast, avant-garde-ish, amateurish way to watch Un chien andalou (twice), I thought: 'Yeah, I will make a song about it.' [He sings:] "Un chien andalou"... It sounds too French, so I will sing "un chien andalusia", it sounds good, no?'^[1]

The title "Debaser" references the fact that Un chien andalou debases morality and standards of art, according to Black Francis. In the earliest version of the song, the line "un chien andalusia" was originally "Shed, Appolonia!" – a reference to Apollonia Kotero, the co-star in the Prince film Purple Rain.^[2]

It is also rumored that "Debaser" is a reference to University of Massachusetts Amherst film studies professor Don Eric Levine. When he attended UMass, Frank Black was enrolled in Levine's avant garde film class, where "Un Chien Andalou" was screened. Levine is alleged to be "the debaser" because he was well known among students for often spoiling the endings of films.

Track listing

Debaser: Demo

1. "Debaser" (Demo) – 2:59
2. "No. 13 Baby" (Demo) – 3:10

Debaser: Live

1. "Debaser" (Live in Chicago, August 10, 1989) – 2:44
2. "Holiday Song" (Live in Chicago, August 10, 1989) – 2:10
3. "Cactus" (Live in Chicago, August 10, 1989) – 2:27
4. "Nimrod's Son" (Live in Chicago, August 10, 1989) – 3:08

Debaser: Studio

1. "Debaser" – 2:52
2. "Bone Machine" (Live in Netherlands, 1990) – 3:03
3. "Gigantic" (Live in Netherlands, 1990) – 3:24
4. "Isla de Encanta" (Live in Netherlands, 1990) – 1:44

Other Versions

A version of this song was also used in the game DJ Hero 2, remixed with The Prodigy's song Invaders Must Die; this mix is available as downloadable content for the game.

References

• Sisario, Ben. Doolittle. Continuum, 2006.

1. ^ Black Francis, translated from a Spanish interview, retrieved 21-03-08
2. ^ Sisario, p. 80.